24 minutes, in English and Bahasa; spiritual warfare, spirits, etc.
Category Archives: New Testament
Symbolic language in Revelation
Some people say to take everything in Revelation literally. But Revelation stops to explain some of its symbols, and some other images are also clearly symbolic.
Cambridge New Testament Commentary on Galatians
It’s not out yet, but it’s on the way! (not sure exactly when, but hopefully soon!)
Understanding Revelation (4 minutes)
Revelation was not meant to be hard to understand.
Newspaper hermeneutics (5 minutes)
Using modern newspapers to interpret Revelation means that interpreters have to keep changing their views as headlines change. There has to be a more consistent way to interpret the book!
Discussion about holiness, sanctification
Paul Moldovan asked me some questions about the meaning of sanctification for his blog, and this prompted me to think about the subject.
My answer about the meaning of “sanctification” starts like this:
I might prefer the translation “consecrate,” since there is less theological-historical baggage attached. The term means “set apart” for ritual purposes; in biblical usage this especially means set apart from what is profane for exclusively holy use. By Christ’s sacrificial death for us, God has consecrated us, or set us apart, as “saints” (literally, “the consecrated ones”) for his exclusive use. We belong to him. Now, what are the implications of this? If we are “saints” in Christ—i.e., those consecrated to Christ—we ought to live wholly for his purposes, not for our own or others.
The written interview as a whole is posted here:
https://overthinkingchristian. com/2017/08/27/what-is- sanctification-anyway-craig- keener-responds/
Prophecy teaching failures (7 minutes)
False predictions through history: Through history, prophecy teachers have kept predicting events and dates that (usually) proved wrong.
Revelation is a practical book (5.42 minutes)
Revelation is a practical book. Some people get scared and confused by the images in Revelation, but it’s really a very practical book for our lives as Christians, with a message for how we can live. See:
What is the gospel of the kingdom?
The good news of God’s reign: we have a foretaste already of the not yet, although the fullness remains future at Jesus’s return:
The story of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26-40
Some regard the story as unreliable, but I argued in an article in 2008 that we have good reason to believe that the account is in fact reliable. I also worked some with cultural background about this passage.
The article is available for download or reading here (Andrews University Press):